Biography

Prof. Ankita, a Varanasi native, received her Bachelor of Psychology and Master of Psychology from the Banaras Hindu University of Varanasi. She is pursuing her PhD student at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. In her thesis she is seeing, the opposing roles of fear in human learning and memory reconsolidation processes. Particularly, the effect of music on fear extinction using the paradigm of memory reconsolidation. Using psychophysiology methods, she is investigating how the presence of a music during memory reconsolidation process can update and modify fear extinction, and further prevent relapse of fearful behaviours. Outside of the lab, she thoroughly enjoys music, reading, being with plants and writing blogs.

Research Experience

Prof. Ankita Verma’s research aims to understand the complexities of human cognition and its effect on human behaviour. Her academic journey has been driven by how the mind processes information, forms memories, and can update it in due course of time. She is a UGC Research fellow at the Humanities and Social Sciences Department, IIT Roorkee. She also worked as a Research Assistant (RA) at IIT Roorkee on a project named “Cognitive Effect of Mantra Chanting using Physiological Parameters – An Interventional Study,” where she investigated the cognitive effect of mantra chanting (Medha Shuktam) on IIT Roorkee students. It was an IKS (Indian Knowledge System) initiative.